


Episode 49: Without Aviila...

by PitoyaPTx



Series: Clan Meso'a [49]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Clan Ordo, Gen, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Clans, Mandalorian Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23563228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitoyaPTx/pseuds/PitoyaPTx
Summary: "[You would do well to listen, kex'ika]" ~DendonaCara's plans come crumbling down, and a conversation with Dendona does little to boost her spirits.
Series: Clan Meso'a [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1261364
Kudos: 1





	Episode 49: Without Aviila...

The late afternoon sun cast an orange haze over the alleyway; Cara took a swig from her canteen and wiped her forehead on the back of her hand then wiped off the face paint on her dress. She pulled out a compact mirror and her paint-pot, fixed the smudged area, then replaced them in her bag. Dendona hadn’t budged at all and her facepaint, which was deep teal, looked flawless save for the deep lines on her furrowed brow.   
The Maak’ux was silent for a few moments after the wall of translated text vanished. Not that she’d spoken at all while Cara explained how she got from Tatooine to Meso’kaan. Though Cara had left a few things out, like feeling bad for taking one of Beon’s bowls, for the most part she was honest. She had no idea what to expect from Dendona nor did it really matter at this point. She was trapped here. Just when her focus began to drift again, Dendona sighed and straightened up.   
“[You know how many children I have?]”   
“No.”  
“[Fifty-six and a half.]”  
Cara blinked and re-read the line.   
“Fifty six and.. A piece?!”   
Dendona patted her left leg, “[One daughter has lost her leg. Xi’paay took it.]   
“Oh! I-I’m sorry! But,” Cara did a little mental math, “How do you have fifty six children? That’s impossible...right?”  
The Maak’ux grinned, the first real smile Cara had seen from her. She leaned forward and fixed Cara with a curiously..happy expression. It was hard to tell. Everything Dendona did felt intimidating.   
“[We say something, Mandalorians say something: family is more than blood.]”  
“Family isn’t just blood?”   
She nodded, “[You understand, Lava?]”   
Cara shook her head. Dendona sat back and thought for another moment.   
“[Family are like brother or sister, mother or father, yes?]”  
“Yes.”  
“[Mandalorians see all as family. The whole clan. We are one.]”   
“That makes sense,” Cara swiped a few bits of dust and petals the wind deposited on her lap, “You live together, hunt together-”  
Dendona reached forward and clapped a hand over Cara’s mouth then cupped a hand around her ear.   
“[Hear, lava, you hear them? Hear your family?]”  
“Fmly?” Cara managed through the hand.   
She could hear shouting and the sound of people running down the hill near the arena; she could hear the barks and snorts of Chochoma; she could hear the sound of a shuttle approaching them from the West.   
“That’s family?”   
“[Yes, lava, your family],” Dendona sat up and spread her arms out wide, “[All this. All of them are family now, to you.]”  
“The tribe, this Clan, is my family.”   
“[Yes.]”  
“Family isn’t just blood.”  
“[Yes.]”   
“Okay…”   
It wasn’t a difficult concept, no, Cara wasn’t having trouble with it for that reason. Outside of Jecho, Aviila, Niri, and Tavut she hadn’t made any friends. Even on days where she and Jecho sat around the fountain after a lesson to eat, she didn’t feel comfortable talking to anyone else. Not even the few children who would wander over and ask if they were “real” Chibala. Back on Tatooine it was the same. Cara stayed home while her father handled business. Fent and Beon were the first people she’d had a prolonged conversation with since Dovin left. Her social skills could be lacking, but-   
“I get nervous,” she admitted, hugging her arms to herself, “They still look at me like an outsider.”  
“[You act like an outsider ],” Dendona shook her head disapprovingly, “[You cling to Jecho. You follow Avilla. You worry for Tavut.]”  
Cara’s cheeks burned, “What’s wrong with that?”  
“[You lack choxultz. You show fear in your walk, in your talk; you cower instead of standing tall. You have nothing to fear, no danger surrounds you, and yet you are afraid.]”   
“It’s just anxiety, Dendona.”   
The Maak’ux read the line but looked puzzled.   
“[Over fear?]”  
“Anxiety? It’s,” Cara thought for a moment, “It’s like...when you want to do something but get nervous and don’t do it then worry about not doing it.”   
“[Over fear.]” Dendona repeated looking satisfied.   
Cara frowned, “I’m trying my best, I am.”  
“[Are you?]”   
“Yes,” she said defensively, “I’m just not used to being here. Not used the rules, the...the traditions, the,” she gestured broadly, “To all of this. It doesn’t make sense to me.”   
“[You were not born here.]”  
“Yeah, I know.”  
“[So be reborn.]”  
“That’s… you can be born twice.”  
“[Why not?]”  
“Because… because you just can’t!”   
“[Why not?]”  
“Because I don’t even know what that means!” Cara thrust her palms against her face and let out a long sigh, “Look, Dendona, I just… this is all too much right now. I’m barely hanging on as it is. I just...want time. Maybe to myself for a while.”   
Dendona watched the teen continue to breathe heavily through the gap between her hands. Slowly, Cara lowered them and looked up at the older woman. She hadn’t moved, not that Cara thought she would, and her face was the same mixture of stern indignation and curiosity. Maybe she was curious how someone as weak as me was saved by Aviila, Cara thought bitterly.   
“[My children],” she said after a moment, “[Not all were born here.]”  
“Yeah?”   
“[I took many in. They became my children.]”  
“You adopted them.”  
“[Yes.]”  
“That’s good.”  
“[You don’t understand, Lava?]”  
“I know what adoption is.” Though Cara was trying to keep the hostility out of her voice, Dendona evidently picked up on it. She was frowning deeply now, disappointed almost that Cara didn’t understand.   
“[Aviila saved you.]”  
“You could call it that.”  
“[Aviila saved you],” She repeated forcefully, “[You are ungrateful?]”  
Cara winced and looked down at her lap, “N..no. I’m sorry.”   
“[Aviila risked her life over and over. She’s lucky to be alive.]”  
“I-I know that.. I do, Dendona, I didn’t mean-”  
“[Aviila chose you.]”   
I don’t know why, Cara thought, “But,” she said, “What does that have to do with being born again.”   
“[Aviila took you in. She is your family.]”   
“I have a living brother,” Cara protested, “If I could find him, I’d have a family. My own family.”  
“[Aviila is your family. Your brother is your family. They are the same].”   
“No they’re not!” Cara insisted, “Blood family and people you live with are different.”   
“[Not to us, Lava.]”  
“Yeah, well they are to me.”  
“[You are ungrateful.]”  
“I’m not!”   
Dendona’s brow was so deeply furrowed her eyes were narrow slits.   
“[You disrespect her with your words, Lava].”   
“I...No, no that’s not what I mean,” Cara maintained, feeling her heart begin to pound, “I just meant that… I didn’t need to be saved. I was fine! I was with-”  
“[The Ordo.]”  
“And they were fine. They were good people, Dendona, they were protecting me!”   
“[And then what?]” Dendona asked, “[The Ordo would have taken you. Would have adopted you, yes?]”  
“They… what?”   
Dendona snorted again, reminding Cara of the Jiiya, “[Mandalorians, we take in those we save often. We adopt them. Make them like us. Care for them. Ordo cared for you. They would have taken you. You would be Ordo without Aviila].”   
“N-no, they,” Cara stammered, trying to push thoughts of Fent and Beon out of her mind, “They wouldn’t have. They would have taken me to my brother. They-”  
“[Would they?]”  
“Yes, of course they would!” she argued, “They knew he was alive. They met him. They would have taken me to him, to-to Vaya, to...”   
But when Dendona continued to look unconvinced, Cara felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.   
“[Would they, or would they make you family? You would be Ordo without Aviila]” she repeated.   
“No… I wouldn’t be,” Cara shook her head, her vision growing blurry, “They’d take me to Dovin. They’d help me find him,” she half whimpered, “I know they would.”   
“[Do you?]”   
Cara’s face screwed up and she looked away from the Maak’ux as if turning away from the very possibility that Beon and Fent… no, no they wouldn’t have. They would have taken her to Dovin if she’d asked. She knew that...but-  
“Cara!” Jecho called out more desperately than before. She was still running up and down the street one alley over from where Cara and Dendona were sitting. The teen got up quickly, nearly stumbled over the crate, and ran down the opposite end of the alley. The warm air stung her eyes but now that the Maak’ux couldn’t see her face it was probably safe to cry. All the way, Cara could feel Dendona’s eyes boring holes into her back. Whether her gaze was of pity or anger, Cara didn’t want to find out. She just wanted to be away from her and away from the possibility that no matter how that night on Tatooine turned out, she’d never be reunited with her brother.   
That just wasn’t possible…


End file.
